Vanguard: Arrowverse One-shots
by Elviah
Summary: Zoe Harper, the younger sister of Roy, is 19 years old with a grisly history of crime. What do you expect from living in the Glades? One afternoon, Roy steals the purse of Thea Queen, and the Harper's lives are never the same again.


Sometimes nightmares become reality.

Zoe Harper should have known better.

The Arrow was public enemy number one. Anyone who claimed to be the face of the mysterious vigilante was a target to every criminal he had taken down.

_Come on, Roy, where are you?_

Zoe paced back and forth behind the chair of the call room, her fingers fidgeting with the edges of her sleeve as she glanced up at the clock for the fifth time. It was five minutes after 6pm. He was late. A sick feeling of dread started unfurling in her gut, but Zoe shook her head, silently cursing whatever was holding up Roy.

Iron Heights ran a strict schedule. Zoe had quickly picked up on that after coming to visit her older brother every single day since his arrest. The fact that the minutes kept ticking by was not a good sign.

_Where the hell is he? _

She grit her teeth, a fierce anger flaring in her chest. This wasn't fair. None of this should even be happening, but she hadn't been around to stop it. Zoe had been hitting the streets looking for members of the League of Assassins when Roy, Felicity, and Diggle had enacted this plan. Roy was innocent, and yet here he was behind bars because some part of his brain decided that publicly claiming to be The Arrow was a good idea.

_You're an idiot, Roy. We didn't survive in The Glades by making friends. We survived by relying on each other, and now you've got the eyes of every god damn gangster on you. _

Logically, Zoe understood why Roy hadn't told her. The team, which she was a member of, had needed a way for Oliver to stay out of jail so he could take down Ras Al Ghul. It should make sense.

But it didn't. Not to her. Not when it meant losing the only family she had to this concrete cage for the rest of his life. She wasn't just angry.

Zoe was terrified.

Anxiety coursed through her veins like a vicious predator, snapping at her heels with threats of everything that could go wrong. Roy was a target. The gangbangers in those cells would be after him, and it would only be so long before they all decided to make him their afternoon snack.

Would she even know? Would they tell her first, or would she see it on the news that "The Arrow" had perished behind bars? Would they let her see him?

She could see it. In her mind's eye, Zoe knew exactly how it would play out.

They would corner him. A group of five or six criminals. Roy would fight like a god damned animal, but one of the bastards would bring a knife and take a cheap shot in his back, and no one would get there in time. Roy would be left alone to bleed out, and –

"God damn it," Zoe hissed.

She pressed her palms against her eyes, desperately trying to push her thoughts away. Chills ran down her back, a stark contrast to the thin layer of sweat breaking out across her body. Her chest felt too tight, like she was being choked.

_No. I can't. _

Zoe let out a strangulated gasp, gulping in air to try and get oxygen to her lungs. Panic was rising in her chest.

_Not here. Not without Roy. Breathe. _

She needed something to grasp to. Something familiar. A scent. An image.

Red.

Zoe blinked.

Roy's hoodie.

The last time she had seen her older brother wearing it, they had been looked at as nothing more than average thugs from the Glades. Then Roy had gone and snatched that brown purse out of Thea Queen's arm and completely changed the course of their lives.

They weren't average anymore. Now they were known as Arsenal and Vanguard, two vigilantes that struck fear into the hearts of any criminal who dared get in their way.

Zoe always suspected that Roy's red Arsenal leathers were inspired by that hoodie. It just felt right, to represent how much he had grown up from the streets. How much _they_ had grown up.

Zoe inhaled deeply, the tension in her chest loosening enough to actually let her breathe. Her nerves were frayed and on edge, but she needed to get a hold of herself.

_I'm Vanguard, damn it. I can do this. Everything's fine. Roy is just – _

"Miss Harper?"

Zoe jolted at the voice, her head whipping around to face a uniformed guard in the doorway. His expression was lined with grief as he reached out a hand.

"I need you to come with me."

Zoe froze. Every inch of her body went stock still as the air she had been so desperate for suddenly vanished from her lungs. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.

It was 6:10pm.

"Why?" she asked, her voice breaking on one syllable.

The guard let out a sigh, and a wave of dread washed over Zoe as she realized what he was saying. The months of training she had gone through to become Vanguard had taught her to see when someone was lying. She saw none of those signs.

_No…_

Every horrific nightmare she had been trying to shove away came rushing to the forefront of her mind in a torrent of crimson colors.

"There was an incident. One of the inmates–"

"Where is my brother?" she whispered.

Grief shifted to sympathy as the guard shook his head. A violent tremor coursed through her body, and she gasped loudly, covering her mouth to try and contain the sob building in her chest.

"No. No, no, no, he didn't – he did _not_ – Roy!"

It was like something had cut her phantom bindings loose, and she surged forward with a primal need to find her brother.

Zoe didn't remember using brute force when the guard tried to stop her. She didn't remember running blindly through the halls screaming his name. She didn't remember kicking down the door marked "Morgue" and barreling into the room.

As soon as her eyes caught sight of the open body bag lying on the metal table, every piece of hope she had been so desperately clinging to was shattered.

"_Roy_!"

Zoe lunged forward to hold him in her arms, as if her touch alone might defy the course of nature, but the second her fingers touched Roy's bare chest, she gasped. What she felt beneath her fingertips was not the warmth of her brother. It was the cold, clammy skin of an empty shell where her brother should be.

Where he used to be.

Zoe let out a strangulated whimper, her fingers trembling as she cupped his face in her hands. Where was that cocky smirk she so desperately needed to see? Or the crinkle in the corners of his eyes when he laughed too hard?

"Please," she begged, tears streaming down her face. "Please. I need you. I don't...I don't know how to…I can't be alone. I don't know how to be okay without you."

Even as she said it, she knew it was useless. The body beneath her hands made no move to comfort her.

Not like her brother would have.

"No, _god_, please, no," Zoe sobbed. "Not you, Roy. _Anyone_ but you."

He didn't answer. He couldn't.

In an instant, something inside her broke. Zoe's legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed to her knees on the cold floor.

Roy was gone.

The scream she let loose echoed like the cry of a wild animal, primal and untamed. Pain, denial, and anger wrenched themselves from her throat in a broken symphony that she couldn't hear.

Every ounce of sweat and blood that she had poured into keeping Roy safe had all been for nothing.

Her brother was dead.

She failed.

Zoe barely heard the prison guards come in or the low murmurs by the door. Her mind was overwhelmed with grief and devastation. There was nothing they could do to fix this. No magical cure that was suddenly going to bring her brother back to life and reunite her with him.

A dull roar of nothingness filled her ears, drowning out the voices around her.

_How did this happen?_

How many nights had they hit the streets together, facing down the most ruthless thugs in Starling, and come out on top? How many gun barrels had they both stared down without flinching?

Arsenal and Vanguard had faced such dire circumstances.

How had Vanguard let Arsenal fall?

"Miss Harper."

It took a few minutes before Zoe realized the voice was talking to her. Slowly, she glanced up, her brow furrowing at the guard standing nearby. It was the same one from before.

"What the hell do you want?" she spat, her voice breaking. "Did you come to explain why you couldn't stop your own inmates from – from _this_?"

Zoe choked down another sob. It was _their_ fault her brother was gone. She was in so much pain, it felt like she was drowning. If that meant taking it out on someone else just to get some air, so be it.

"We need to talk."

The guard kneeled next to her and reached into his pocket, then held out his hand towards her. Zoe eyed him suspiciously before glancing down at the badge, wondering what was so special about it until she noticed the letters engraved along the top.

A.R.G.U.S

She jerked her head up towards the guard, staring at him with wide eyes.

"What is…you're from A.R.G.U.S? What – how?"

"I'll explain everything once we're in the van. Right now, we need to get you and your brother out of here."

He helped Zoe to her feet and immediately went into action, but Zoe could barely pay attention to what he was doing.

Her head was spinning.

A.R.G.U.S was _here_? At the prison? How hadn't she seen them before? What was their involvement with her brother's de – with this mess?

The next few minutes became a blur. Before Zoe was fully aware of what was going on, she found herself in the back of a moving van with three A.R.G.U.S agents and her brother still in an open body bag. The one who had been posing as the prison guard was kneeling next to Roy, and by the time her thoughts settled, she realized that he was holding a syringe.

Zoe lurched forward in her seat.

"What are you doing!" she exclaimed, but too late.

Whatever liquid was in the vial had been injected into Roy's neck, and while the logical part of Zoe's brain said it didn't matter, the emotional part that had spent a lifetime looking out for her older brother was still on high alert.

Her hands flew to her seatbelt, but before she could rip it off, the agent on her left put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back down. With a snarl, she smacked it away.

"Keep your god damn hands off me," Zoe hissed, turning her attention to the "guard" and pointing a finger at him. "_You_ don't have the right to touch my brother until you tell me what the _hell_ is going on."

The agent cast her a knowing look, completely disregarding her threat, and Zoe swore he was trying not to smile.

"Miss Harper, I had to reverse the effects of the tetrodotoxin in his system."

Zoe stilled.

Oliver had mentioned tetrodotoxin to the team before. It was a potent neurotoxin from pufferfish that, when used in certain doses, could slow a person's heart to the point they appeared dead.

"What?" she whispered so quietly she didn't think he heard her.

If he did, he said nothing about it as the agent reached into one of the van compartments and pulled out a worn-down backpack. The zipper along the top had a piece of red fabric sticking out next to it.

Her mind blanked.

_Roy's hoodie. _

Zoe stopped breathing, her heart stuttering to a stop. All she could do was stare blankly at the backpack as the pieces suddenly started coming together.

The Arrow being "unmasked". A.R.G.U.S' involvement. The tetrodotoxin.

"This was a setup," she breathed out, her eyes blown wide. "All of it."

The agent in front of her made eye contact with his comrades, an unspoken conversation taking place before he looked back to Zoe.

"That would be correct, Miss Harper. We are on our way back to your team's headquarters now."

Zoe barely heard him. She sucked in a harsh breath, burying her face in her hands as the full implication of what this meant started to hit her.

It was fake. Roy had faked his death, to protect Oliver's identity as the true Arrow.

The selflessness of her brother was staggering.

Zoe closed her eyes, thinking back on all the times he had put her safety first when it was just the two of them fighting for survival. He had always put her needs first.

_I'm just one person. He did this for the team…for Oliver. _

If it had been her in his place, Zoe wasn't sure she would have been able to do the same.

"Zoe?"

The voice instantly caught her attention and her head snapped up.

Roy was sitting up on the floor and looking right at her.

Zoe couldn't move. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She just stared at him, her heart pounding so hard she swore everyone could hear it. Her limbs tingled with a surge of adrenaline and fear and _relief_. Such bittersweet relief.

Her vision started to blur as tears filled her eyes, and before anyone could stop her, Zoe launched herself out of her seat, crashing into Roy with such ferocity that he barely had time to react before her arms were wrapped around his torso in a desperate hug.

"You son of a bitch," Zoe sobbed, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

Roy immediately pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head, and it only made Zoe cry harder. The warmth she had been craving was everywhere, enveloping her in everything she had thought she had lost.

Roy was _alive_.

He was still here for her to love and protect and guard, for her to prove her codename described exactly who she was. To hell with everyone else.

Roy was the most important person in her life. The only one who _truly_ mattered. Zoe did her job in the field with the team and followed orders like she was expected to, but they were just people she fought criminals with. They weren't her family.

To have come this close to losing Roy, and believing, even for that short time, that he was gone…it rattled Zoe to the core. She had never felt that much pain before, like a monster digging its claws into her soul and brutally carving away whatever humanity it could.

As if he could sense her fear, Roy pushed a strand of hair away from her face, pulling Zoe close as she clung to him. Zoe was unable to hold back another sob as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes.

She was _so_ relieved.

Minutes passed before she found her voice again.

"You stupid, selfish, son of a bitch."

"I love you too, Zo." Roy lifted his hands to cup her face, tilting it back to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

He hadn't done that since they were teenagers. She let out a wet laugh, pulling back only slightly to look her brother in the eyes. He was looking at her with the same cocky smirk, his eyes beaming with affection.

"You're such a sap," Zoe teased, wiping the tears from her eyes as she let out a shaky breath.

Her entire body was echoing with the remnants of terror she had felt at the prison. Waning adrenaline was taking its toll, wearing down on her with twice the kickback as a typical sparring session.

Zoe had never felt so vulnerable before. Her elation was palatable, but sight of her brother in a body bag was something that would haunt her for days to come. Even with the living proof right in front of her, the tightness in her chest had barely loosened, and Zoe's smile faded as her throat grew thick with tears, her eyes watering.

Roy saw right through her and sighed heavily, pulling her into another hug.

"I'm sorry I put you through that," he murmured in her ear.

Zoe nodded, not trusting her voice right now as she leaned into his embrace. He did what he had to do. Diggle and Felicity were going to get an earful for this, but that was later. Right now, her brother was the only one she was paying attention to.

"Sir, we're five minutes out."

"Affirmative."

Zoe had almost forgotten they were heading back to Verdant. With a quiet exhale, she pulled away from her brother and reached for the backpack on the seat next to them. Roy's hand lingered on her arm.

"You better get dressed. I'm sure the team will have a lot for us to do when we get back."

She dropped the backpack in Roy's lap with a grin, but it faded as soon as she saw the wistful expression on his face. Her brow furrowed, and in the moment, Zoe was too focused on him to notice the agents exchanging glances around them.

"Roy? You ok?"

He quickly nodded, the corners of his lips turning up in a distant smile.

"Yea, I'm good. You gonna help me out of this thing or what?"

_Something's wrong. _

Zoe froze, looking down at Roy through a new lens.

Not as his sister.

As Vanguard.

Something had escaped her notice. A part of the plan that had slipped under her radar, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see the missing piece. It was there. Somewhere. Just out of reach.

"Roy," Zoe said, her voice barely above a whisper. "What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

He stiffened, jaw tightening as he averted his gaze, and when he didn't answer, a fresh thread of fear started snaking down Zoe's spine.

"Roy, _please_," she begged. "I deserve the truth."

With a sigh, Roy reached out and clasped one of her hands.

[WIP]


End file.
